Apparatus for casting crucible steel.



PATENTBD APR. 10, 190$v L. E. HOWARD, APPARATUS FOR CASTING ORUOIBLE STEEL.

APPLICATION FILED DEG.3,190-1.

:PATENTED APR. 10, 1906.

L. E. HOWARD .APPARATUS FOR CASTING GRUOIBLE STEEL.

APPLICATION FILED DEG 31904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET ye/24 0m- -zvzesJesl' PATENTED APR. 10, 1906 L. E. HOWARD. APPARATUS FOR CASTING CRUGIBLE STEEL.

APPLICATION FILED D110: 3, 1904.

4 $HEETS-SHEET 3.

'iig,

No. 817,714. PATENTED APR. 10, 1906. L E. HOWARD.

APPARATUS FOR CASTING GRUUIBLE STEEL.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 3, 1904.

4 SHBETS-EH1IET 4 22 Ill-"ii mnmummw i III n 1| Illinois,

. Improvements in A paratus for Casting I hun 3o duce just the same quality 0 LESLIE E. HoWARn oF LA GRANGE; ILLINOI ,UTNiTED STATES MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or rironsune, -.MAss oHUsErrs, A

CORPORATION OF' MASSACHUSEITS.

APPARATUS FOR VCAQYSTINGJCRUCIBLE s'i-EELI,

I To all whom it may concerm.

' Be it known that I, LESLIE E. HOWARD, .a citizen of the United States, and a resident of La Gran e, in the county of Cook and State of ave invented certain new and useful Crucible Steel, of which they following is a specification. 4

In the manufacture of crucible steel 1o processes usually employed it: is customary to melt the iron and necessary steel-forming ingredients in a number of separate Inelting-.

pots orcrucibles each containing but a relacontents of molten steel, is thenat the proper 'time drawn f om the furnace and poured or t-eeined byhandinto a mold, where it forms theingot, which is subsequently heated,

2o rolled, hammered or otherwise worked into the desired product. By this method, however, each in ct is formed by the contents of but a sing e crucible or, at least, of only a few crucibles, so that in producing any considerable quantity of ingotsthere is certain to be a considerable variation in the resulting product, notably in its carbon content, owing to the fact that the melter is unable to exactly control the process, so as to re eatedly prosteel 1n the .sevcral.,pots or crucibles with which. he is working. No matter how car'etull the melting-pots or crucibles may be se ected and charged the quality of the steel made in dif: 5 ferent pots is bound to vary and does inevitably vary to anoticeable extent. In fact,

the variation is so great that in practice it is necessary to inspect or analyze each individual ingot in order to insure a uniform product; and more or less of the ing; ts must inevitably be discarded. 'This lac of uniforxuity, with its attendant d ifi iculties, may be entirely overcome by first pouring the {contents of the several crucibles or of a consid- 4 5 arable r oporl ion of the several crucibles constitutinheat'into' a container or ladle in which the molten steel becomes uniformlby diffusion, articularly the diffusion resultun from the igh difl'usive ower of carboiaan from which container Lie several ingots are then poured in succession until the ladle is emptied. As a result of this change in the Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed December 3, 1904- Serial Nu. 235,282.

tiveli small quantity, usually less than one red'pounds. Each crucible, with its.

cradle for the ladle is' mountedl PatentedApi'il-io, i906.

process and of the employment of the intermediate container in .WhlCh the contents of the several crucibles are diffused into a uniform molten mass, the cast'iof ingots isren dered uniform throughout, 1 each ngot bein substantially identical incompositi'on, an particularly in carbon, witheverybther ingot, so that it is'necessarylto ins ect and analyze but a single sample inor 'er'to deter the 1' roduct resulti'rigfrbm each heat will be abso utelyuniform-in character, f',

1 It is the object of thepresent' invention to provide improved apparatus for carrying out theabove-dscribd process; and. to the acc'omp f' hment of this object'ax'id such others as may 'ereinafter'ap eiii j'theinventioncom sists of'th-fparts and I hereinafter llydescribed," and particularly pointed out in I the appended; claims, referhad to the accompanyingjdrawencebeing ing's, forming-a part of this specification, in

which the same reference characters desig: 'nate like parts throughout the several views.

form of any suitable crucib e-stcel furnace,

(not otherwise herein illustra'ted,) and 2 thecor'nbiiiatipn of parts mine the character of the product and so that I rails of a track which runsalong the front of i the platform and extends to any desirable lcn r h between the platform am an .ing'ot-- racia This track serves to supporta rollin carriage 5,within which 'ajcont-ainerl'ir la( le 6 is 'suitably cradledQf, N

As hereinsliown, the carriage {his composed of longitudinal'cha'nnels'7, upon which the jo'urnalrbearing's 8 'for' the/supportingwhee'ls'tlof the carriage 'are'pro'vidm and of transverse chaimelsl0,.which rest upon the longitudinal channels 7 and: upon which the is shown in detail in Fig. 4 and comprises a pair of L-shaped Sl(l0- -l)itIS 11, which are pivoted at their angles to. the transverse chan- IO This cradle pres ure is admittedto and ex 'austed from, the cylinder through suita le pipes 18,! controlled by an ordinary four-way valve 19,

- pouring-lip coincidessubstantlally-in locatively to the carriage, so that the oint of dis- 'v The tilting of the ladle and its necessary" The position of the pivots 13 and of the poursteel, for necessarily be handled manually, as has been of which the ladle 6 is pivotally hung at 13 cured to the ladle and extendthence upwardly and forwardly to the pivots 13.

further supportare accomplished by pivotally, securing its bottom to the u per end 14 of aplunger-rod .14", that works in and out of a double-actin cylinder 15; This'cylinder is itself pivotaily mounted at its lower end upon a trunnion bar or. rod 16, that extends between two pairs of downwardly-conver mg frame-bars 17, the upper ends of whic li are secured tothe transverse channels 10 of the-carriage. 'Water or other fluid under toforce out or retract tirepiston and to consequently tilt the'ladle, as'desired.

'As an important featiire of construction, furthermore, the ladle is so shaped that its tion Wlth the. axis of thej pivots' 13,,upon whloh the ladle swings in its cradle, and consequently this -li always discharges the conents of the ladle from the: same. point rethe extent to which the'la 1e .ay' be tilted;

ing-hp 20 is, however, made adjustable relacharge of the ladle may be regu ated as desired with reference to the ingot-rack 4, and for this purpose the converging rear ends of the L-shaped cradle-bars 11 are adjustably connected with the carriage-framework in such manner as to enable them to be raised and lowered to swing the cradle on its pivots" 12. As herein shown, such adjustable con-- motion between the rear converging ends of the bars 11 and carriage-frame is formed by a screw-bolt 22, which 1s ivotally secured at its lower end 23 to one oi the channels 7 and which carries a screw-threaded hand-wheel 24, that indirectly engages said end portions of the side bars 11 throu h an oscillating coupling 25. By turning t e handqvheel 24' up or down on the screw 22 the tiltin of the cradle may obv'iouslybe accomplished to the end above mentioned.

The operation of the a. paratus'thus described will be readily un erstood. The numerous crucibles, each of which can only be large eno h to contain a small quantity of the reason that the-crucibles must demonstrated by years of experience, are charged with the iron and other steel-making ingredients and stowed away in the furnace, where they are allowed to remain some hours and until the melting of the metal is completed. The crucibles are then drawn out upon the platform 1 of'the furnace and mg wheel.

poured one by one into the ladle 6. The in- The filling of-the ladle with the contents of many crucibles causes its contents, articularly carbon, to diffuse themselves t oughout the ladle in a mass of molten steel of unied in succession from t e ladle,'

the track form compdsition, and since all of the ingots are poured from -thisun'iform composition their composition in turn is uniiorm, as is also the product which results when-these ingots are worked into final form. A single analysis or other examination of any one of the ingots may now be relied upon as correctly indicative of the compositlon of all of other ingots resultin from the same heat, and if the charging o the crucibles has been general-ly correct none of the in ots will re quire to be discarded, since eac Will'represent the ro er avera of the several.-

P I g8 standing that the contents charges, notwit -of the crucibles themselves may have varied' considerably owing to differences in charging or to the different extent to which the meta may have been affected in the several pots by the composition of the pots themselves or to other uncontrollable lactors inherent in the process. Owing to the relatively'stationa position of the pouring-lip of the ladle no d' culty can be experienced iiidirecting the flow of metal properly from the ladle into each of the ingot-molds, the 4 osition/of which with respect to the ladle an carriage will be determined and ke t uniform by the rack 4, and the original ad iustment 01 the lip of the ladle with respect to all of the ingot-molds can be readily accom lished by a mani ulation of the'hand'whee 24. An suitab e arrangement of flexible tubing or t 1e like can be utlllZQd to supply fluid-pressure to the cylinder 15 of the movable carriage, and the pipes 18 are herein shown as also com osed in part of flexible tubing to permit of t e necessary swinging movement of the cylinder within the carriage. The moving of the carriage IIC itself along on its tracks can be accomplished by a suitable motor or by hand, and in this instance I have shown for the pur ose a hand propelling device, consisting of a and-wheel 27, connected by s rocket-chain and wheels 28 with one set of t e sup orting-wheels 9 of the carriage, which thus Obviously many changes may be made in the details of the construction'shown without departure from the broad spirit of the invention claimed, and it will also be obvious that the several features of im roved construction in the mechanism descri ed may be advana so becomes a drivuxgeously employed separately or in connection with, but a part of, the other features set forth, andfor the carrying out of other processes than that to which this application more particularly relates, if so desired.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a platform and a ladle-supporting frame thereon, of a ladle pivotally mounted in said fra me and having its pouring-lip coincident with its axis of pivotal movement, and means for bodily and simultaneously shifting the pivots of the ladle with respect to the platform and without affecting their alinement with the pouring-lip, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a platform and a ladle-supporting frame, of a ladle pivotally mounted. in said frame and having its pouring-lip substantially coincident with its axis of pivotal support, means connected to said frame for bodily and simultaneously shifting the pivots of the ladle with respect to the platform and without affecting their alinement with the pouring-lip, a cylinder pivotally mounted in proximity to the ladle and having its plunger-rod pivotally connected therewith, and means for supplying fluidpressure to and exhausting it from the cylinder, for the purpose set forth 3. The combination with a pivotallymounted cradle, of a ladle pivotally supported in the cradle and formed with its pouringlip substantially coincident with its axis of pivotal support, means for tilting the ladle, and means for adjustably tilting the cradle to vary the position of the pouring-lip of the ladle, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a carriage, of a cradle pivotally mounted on the carriage and consisting of a pair of L-shaped side frames pivotally connected at their angles to the carriage, an adjustable connection between the lower rear ends of the cradle-bars and the carriage to enable the cradle to be tilted on its nivots, and a ladle pivotally mounted be tween the upper ends of the L-shaped cradlebars, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a rolling carriage, of a cradle pivotally mounted on the carriage, a ladle pivotally supported in the cradle and formed with a pouring-lip substantially coincident with its axis of pivotal support, means for adj ustably tilting the cradle to vary the position of the supporting-lip on the carriage, and a cylinder trunnioned in the carriage beneath the ladle, with its plunger-rod engaging the ladle to tilt the latter, substantially as described.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a track, a carriage mounted to run on said track and carrying a ladleplatform, an upright frame pivotally supported at one side of this platform, means for tilting this frame for the purpose set forth, a ladle pivotally connected to the upper end of said frame, the pouring-lip of this ladle being in line withits'axis of pivotal movement, and means supported on the carriage for tilting the ladle.

7. In combination with a track, of a carriage mounted on said track, a ladle-supporting frame mounted on said carriage, a ladle pivotally mounted on said frame arid adapted to tilt toward one side of the track, a frame depending from the carriage and carrying a pivotally-supported upright cylinder, a piston-rod working in this cylinder and pivotally connected to the bottom of the ladle, a valve and fluid-conducting pipes mounted on the carriage, and flexible connections between these pipes and the cylinder.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature, in pres ence of two subscribing witnesses, this 30th, day of November, A. D. 1904c.

LESLIE E. HOWARD,

Witnesses:

HENRY SAEHTLEBEN, ROBERT N. HEYDEN. 

